Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: We report enhanced thermoelectric (TE) performance in CdO by using thermally insulating nano-particles to mimic nano pores in the composite. Through simply mechanical alloying, we fabricated CdO-SiO2 composites with varying nano-SiO2 concentration from 0.1 to 3 at%. Due to the very low thermal conductivity of nano-SiO2 distributed in the CdO matrix, the thermal conductivity of the composite was substantially reduced by about 80%, which lead to the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) value increment about 28% (from 0.32 to 0.41) at 1000 K. TEM shows the nano inclusions formed within the CdO matrix and grain boundaries as well, which is thought to contribute to the reduction of thermal conductivity of the composite by additional scattering mechanism for the mid- to long-wavelength phonons. This facile and low-cost approach might be widely adopted and synergized to other TE materials systems to further improve their performance.
Source: Nanotechnology
Authors: Longjiang Li, S Liang, Shanming Li, Jianglong Wang, Shufang Wang, Guoyi Dong, Guangsheng Fu
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: 层状钴氧化物薄膜光诱导的横向热电效应研究, G8784519074
OpenAlex ID: W2058775860